


Giving Ground

by olliolli_oxenfree



Series: bullinquisitorweek [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, also i pinpointed the exact moment bull falls in love, and a scene goes a way you didn't expect, and you learn something new about a character, anyway this is how i learned kendra has ptsd, which makes sense when you think of all the shit the inquisitor goes through, you know how sometimes you write something
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 13:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8330407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olliolli_oxenfree/pseuds/olliolli_oxenfree
Summary: Day three of Iron Bull x Inquisitor Appreciation Week:“No war, no Inquisition, just you and me, nothing outside this room.”Unabashed cuddling.





	

The best way to spend a lazy day in Skyhold was to doze it away, and the best way to do that was with his face pillowed on the Inquisitor’s lap. The windows to the balcony were thrown open to let in a warm breeze which alone made her bed superior to his room above the tavern. Bull’s arms were wrapped around her hips to give his head a bit of lift. With it, he could _just_ make out the sliver of light between her stomach and the side of his nose when he opened his eye. His face was turned towards the entrance, and that meant relying on his hearing. What he heard was the constant scratch of a quill.

Above him, Kendra reclined on a stack of pillows as she wrote—

_Hm._

No change in her breathing over the last few hours, the quill only pausing when a sound came from outside and resuming when she identified the source. Or between changing sheets of paper, when she flipped through letters on her nightstand to check a correspondence. Family, then. That impossibly large one of hers that required an entire day if she meant to write all of them. Even _he_ didn’t know how many there were. He could easily find out. Red would have learned everything down to how often they trimmed their nails by now, but if Kendra wasn’t offering he wouldn’t pry. She had a _thing_ about family, after all.

Her quill tapped the edge of her writing board. Moved on to letters from potential allies? During and after the elimination process Josephine took care of keeping contact. Anyone lucky enough to get through the scrutiny of the ambassador and spymaster had the honor of their allegiance being decided by Kendra.

Bull would be lying if he said it wasn’t fun seeing her reactions, even if it did mean a bit of jostling. She took far longer writing Inquisition allies despite those letters only taking up half a sheet of parchment, as opposed to the pages and pages she would sometimes take to write just one relation. His shoulders and back would often be used so she could read over everything a hopeful had sent without her moving every two seconds. Once, she grew so frustrated with a draft she'd impaled it on one of his horns.

It wasn’t the case this time. Her writing board landed with a _clack_ on the nightstand and one of her thumbs started rubbing circles at the base of a horn. Bull rumbled his appreciation and squeezed her hips tighter. Kendra's breathing evened, slowed, and Bull was half-asleep when she opened the drawer on the nightstand.

Curiosity, mixed with disapproval when her hand left his scalp, brought him back to wakefulness. A lid popped open.

Container. He raised his head slightly. Not that he could see what it was with his eye against her abdomen. Bull felt no concern. Kendra was adamant in keeping her table of poisons as far from her bed as the room allowed. Except maybe the dagger she slept with, but he left too early in the nights to find out.

Didn’t smell like anything. He contented himself to live and let live until her fingers returned.

Horn balm.

She found him _horn balm_.

Bull's squeeze winded her.

* * *

Why was the Emprise du Lion so _fucking_ cold?

Buried under three blankets, fully dressed, and lying next to the brazier, Kendra suppressed another shiver. They were in _Orlais_. It wasn’t supposed to be _cold_ in _Orlais_. Wasn’t this Ferelden’s specialty? Like the Frostbacks after she—

_ribs still bruised from breaking the support beams, staring down at abandoned embers snow falling too fast for tracks, breath billows green as the Mark_ burns _and the pain makes her find strength in her frozen legs one step two direction chosen at random, eyes glow between the trees a wolf howls_

—no. Focus. Breathe. In and out.

The blankets scratched at her cheeks. Her exposed skin was not numb. Frigid, but she’d take what she could get. She willed her limbs to separate and rolled onto her stomach, hoping the familiar position would lull her to sleep.

No good.

Kendra sat up, pulling the blankets tight around her to form a cocoon. She set her chin on her knees and watched the flickering light cast on the tent by the fire outside. Voices sounded as the scouts changed the guard. Mutters of discontent, hissed responses that _everyone_ was uncomfortable. Silence.

Still freezing.

Giving it up with a sigh, Kendra stood. She set the blankets close to the brazier before she considered letting the coals die. No, best keep them going. A surprise attack from the outside was unlikely with how the Red Templars stood out against the snow, but it was best to make it look like the Inquisitor was in the tent she was meant to be.

She peeked through the tent flaps. Four scouts around the fire, six patrolling out amongst the tents. As usual, they gave the tents of the Inquisitor and her inner circle a wide berth. A _respectful distance_ , Cullen insisted on calling it. Either way, if she was able to slip through that part of camp without anyone noticing, they weren’t alert enough.

None of them spotted her.

_Well done, Commander._

It only occurred to her after she opened the flap to Bull’s tent that being more obvious in her approach and putting _away_ the knife she’d taken from under her covers might have been wise. His eye opened.

“Move.”

He held his blanket aside, tucking it around her back as she curled next to him. He jumped when she pressed her nose to his skin. The man was a _furnace_. It took a moment of restless shifting to arrange herself comfortably. She finally settled with her head propped on his shoulder and both her legs wrapped around one of his. Her body had finally warmed enough to relax. She did so with a sigh.

“Thanks, Bull.”

“Any time, boss.”

With only a few hours left till dawn she didn’t sleep. She didn’t think he did either. Still, it was nice to just lie like this.

* * *

“It’s very cold.”

“Sure is, Cole.”

Bull watched as Kendra tugged the cuffs of her gloves down tight against her arms. She walked around the lookout fire twice, once in each direction, then peered over the ledge of the cliff to watch the Red Templars in the quarry below. Any longer with those scouts and she’d be spinning a dagger.

“The sun makes it warmer. Brighter.”

“Mm.”

“We don’t need the Mark to see you.”

Kendra stopped halfway through another rotation.

“...Thanks.”

She went back to walking.

Tension coiled in the spine above her shoulder blades. Itching to act, stop waiting on the scout reports and deal with problems as they arose. With Sahrnian prisoners working in the mines they would be some _big_ problems.

Bull intercepted another turn to drape an arm across her shoulders. Surprise flickered on her face, then gratitude. She leaned into the embrace.

“Anything yet?”

“Not yet,” Kendra answered as Sera approached.

“ _Phht._ Taking too long. There’s _people_ down there. People that shouldn’t be.” Sera dropped onto the snow. Crazy Fereldans. “Scouts don’t usually take this long. Might be missing.”

Kendra rocked back to study the sky. “We’ll give them half an hour more.”

“Fine. Don’t blame me when you lose ‘em.” Sera looked up at them, and Bull knew what the conversation had switched to. “Right, can I say it then?”

Kendra glanced her way. “Say what?”

Bull really wished she wouldn’t. Cole had done his mind reading thing on their arrangement once, and as it turned out Kendra wasn’t one for discussing it with others. He was enjoying the press of her weight against him, enough so he steeled himself for when Sera’s comment would make her step away. At least Solas wasn’t around this time.

“You two are fucking.”

Kendra laughed, and his heart did a little flop. “Like rabbits.”


End file.
